3.33 – As the first episode of The Devil’s Hour begins, Gideon (Peter Capaldi) talks about déjà vu to Lucy (Jessica Raine). He asks her about having the feeling that you’ve been here before. He questions whether they already know one another, but Lucy insists he doesn’t know her. He knows she feels detached like her life isn’t her own and how she wakes up every night from a painful dream she never had. Sure enough, she wakes up from a nightmare. Isaac (Benjamin Chivers) comes downstairs and startles her. He repeats what she says before Lucy takes him back to bed. She sits down with Dr. Ruby Bennett (Meera Syal) to talk about the episodes that happen once or twice a month. Ruby says sleepwalking is common in kids his age, but Lucy believes it is something else. He doesn’t see his father anymore and didn’t react when he learned they were separating.

Isaac sits next to his mother although he isn’t eager to answer questions. He remembers waking up last night and going downstairs. When asked why he did that, Isaac says Meredith was crying. Lucy explains that he sometimes imagines people. Isaac says Meredith can’t hear him. Lucy mentions the other names of people he has met. Isaac never cries, never laughs, and never gets mad. He says he is not supposed to be here. Lucy notices the flowers changing as she is asked about a history of schizophrenia in the family. She says Dr. Harper ruled it out for her mother and she doesn’t know of any problems on her dad’s side of the family. He died when she was young due to a brain aneurysm. Lucy mentions that Ruby is doctor number seven before the conversation continues. She gets distracted at work while talking to Karen about Mark and home visits. She recommends taking Rob with her next time since bedwetting can be a sign of abuse.

Karen (Sandra Huggett) doesn’t think it is about whether the kid is being abused, but Lucy says otherwise. She learns that he is here seconds later. Rob and Lucy sit down with Shane Fisher (Kyle Rowe) who doesn’t know about the visits to his home. He is asked about the incidents of assault and the fact he is on bail for the most recent charge. Chloe claims he assaults her and threatens their daughter, but Shane insists she is lying. He suggests she pushed him so he pushed her back. Lucy asks him about approaching Chloe outside his daughter’s school when she was carrying his son. Shane quickly says he isn’t his son. Lucy seems to have flashbacks of a violent incident while Shane insists she isn’t taking his daughter away from him. Lucy warns him that they’ll consider child protection measures if there are any additional incidents. Rob checks on Lucy once Shane leaves. DI Ravi Dhillon (Nikesh Patel) smokes and learns from DS Nick Holness (Alex Ferns) that the victim is Harold Slade and was stabbed three times.

His wife came home from book club and found him around four. Her alibi is solid. After Ravi says to get it over with, he begins listening to The Beach Boys. Nick says the next door was out and the front door was unlocked. The killer likely knew his victim who was well-liked and volunteered at St. John’s. They find that he had been watching bondage and S&M porn. Ravi has to step out because he is getting ill. Nick follows him to say they’re putting them somewhere local for the night. Ravi says something about it being a weird time for fireworks so Nick checks to make sure he is okay. Nick talks to him about how he gets wobbly around the dead despite being a DI. Ravi suggests it is irrational not to fear blood since blood is death. Nick questions why he’d take this job considering his disposition. Ravi says someone has to. Gideon asks Lucy what she sees when she looks at him. When asked why she came, Lucy reminds him he said he would talk to no one else and they want answers.

Gideon claims they want evidence and confessions so they can forget all about it. Although Lucy admits she wants to forget it too, Gideon says she won’t. We see another flashback or nightmare before she wakes up at 3:33. Mike Stevens (Phil Dunster) wakes up to ask what time it is. He reveals she was saying something about the fireworks in her sleep. Lucy asks Mike to hold her as they try to go back to sleep. Mike admits he misses this before Lucy asks him to be gone by the time Isaac wakes up. She doesn’t want Isaac thinking he is back if he isn’t. She asks if he wants to see Isaac only for Mike to say he has an early meeting. Lucy thought it was about time she changed her name back. After she takes her son to school in the morning, she visits her mother. She asks her mom if Ellen has been in today. Her mother claims she has and brought teabags although Lucy has trouble finding them.

Her mom gets upset when she thinks she sees something outside, but Lucy says there is nothing there. She curses him and claims he comes and goes. Her mom calls her Ellen so she has to correct her by calling herself Lucy. Nick and Ravi speak to Gerald Bell who tells them about a vehicle parked next to the victim’s house for two weeks. He says it was a red Nissan with scuffs and dents all over it. Joan took a picture of it so he’ll ask her about the model. Mr. Bell remembers it is called a Nissan Vanette. When a boy bullies Isaac, he decides to urinate on the boy’s backpack. Once Lucy arrives at the school, the teacher admits no one saw it happen and Isaac claims it was an accident. Lucy believes her son and refuses to think otherwise. She even agrees to pay for the damage. Lucy learns about Archie and how he was bullying her son.

When Isaac is asked if that is why he urinated on Archie’s bag, he claims they moved the toilets. The teacher suggests otherwise. Isaac is forced to apologize. Later that night, Lucy has a nightmare of a woman attempting suicide with a shotgun. Isaac wakes her up causing her to get mad and yell at him to go back to bed. She looks at the picture of Meredith Isaac drew before. She hears a laughing child and thinks it is Isaac, but there is no one nearby. After collecting herself, Lucy goes into Isaac’s room to apologize for yelling at him. As she embraces him, Isaac begins asking who that man is. Again, Lucy doesn’t see anyone behind her. Lucy promises that she is going to make him better. The next day, Lucy visits Chloe Fisher (Carys Gaylor) at her home. She learns that Shane was here this morning because he wanted to see Tilly (Lunar Longhurst).

When she didn’t let him in, Shane started shouting, swearing, and saying he was going to kill himself. Chloe threatened to call the police if he didn’t leave, but Lucy doesn’t think she called the police. She admits they’ll need to consider child protection measures if he isn’t following the rules. Lucy begins having flashbacks of a bloody incident. Chloe confesses that she shoved Shane first outside the school. She offers to find Chloe a safe place to stay, but Chloe refuses to leave the house. Chloe gets her number so she can call her day or night. Nick gives Ravi a list of every Nissan Vanette still registered in the country. Ravi gets upset when Jonah Taylor’s teddy bear gets stuck on his computer screen. They talk about the bear named Hobson. Ravi admits he reads Miranda Taylor’s blog and she still updates it. Nick heard she was an unpleasant woman and doesn’t think she should’ve blamed them.

Nick says the case destroyed three careers. The boy was never going to be found and the bear was a dead end. Ravi shows him a picture of a car that didn’t belong to any of the houses in the area. The car shows up again close to where they found the bear. Ravi points out that it is a red Nissan Vanette. Ruby tells Lucy that Harper’s notes don’t make sense to her. Lucy insists the incident at school has never happened before. She tells Ruby how she always wakes up around 3:33 and never sleeps through the night. She goes on to admit that she gets déjà vu sometimes. Ruby suggests she speaks to someone, but Lucy argues she shouldn’t have said anything. Ruby believes she sounds afraid. The alarm goes off letting them know that the session is over. Before Lucy leaves with Isaac, she tells Ruby that they call 3:33 the devil’s hour. On the way home, Lucy tries to get Isaac excited about getting fish and chips. He doesn’t react though.

She is surprised to see him smile and comes close to running into a young girl in front of her. Her father Lee Warren (Thomas Dominique) tells the girl to go inside and help mommy. Lucy is shocked to learn that the girl’s name is Meredith (Talia Walker Bassols). A young woman in a flashback searches for something that she can’t find. She retrieves the shotgun and puts it under her chin as we see a letter addressed to Lucy nearby. The woman pulls the trigger twice but nothing happens. She checks to make sure that it contains a bullet before trying again. As she tries, she hears a young Lucy yelling for her mommy. She runs out, puts the gun up, and steps on a button that she picked up seconds later. Lucy interrupts to say she had a bad dream. Her mother comforts her and insists bad dreams cannot hurt them. She goes on to say can’t hurt them now. In the present, Lucy gives her money tea only for her to complain that she can’t taste it.

She claims there are no cards because she stole them. Lucy begins looking for them and finds the knob or button from the flashback. As she tries to get her mother to play, she blurts out Lucy and seems surprised that she came to see her again. Lucy reminds her that she always comes. Once Lucy confirms she is real, her mom begins complaining that she can’t get warm. She begins freaking out. Lucy gives her the item and tells her to squeeze it to calm down. Nick arrives at the scene where the vehicle in question was discovered. He learns a farm is about a mile and a half away. The officer reveals they’ve already bagged an old laptop with no hard drive, a phone with no SIM, and a dashboard camera. Ravi says he had a 24-hour stream when he parked at the right angle and that is how he knew Slade’s routine. He finds keys and suggests they try to find out which door they open. He says they should check the cheapest motel in the area since he doubts the guy is picky.

Later that night, Lucy gets a visit from Mike who says he was just passing by. She claims she is working so it isn’t a good time. He wonders if they had sex because she loves him or because she loves sex. A call from Chloe interrupts. Lucy hears the chaos in the background and asks if she has called the police. Although Lucy encourages her to call the police, Chloe is hesitant to do so since she doesn’t want him to get into trouble. Chloe says she is being stupid and shouldn’t have called just before hanging up. After some flashbacks again, Lucy tells Mike to stay with Isaac before leaving. Ravi talks to a motel clerk who says the man comes and goes but doesn’t stay. Linda Jones (Joan Hodges) says he pays cash a year in advance. She asked for his name, but she didn’t get one. When asked what he looked like, Jones says he was serious and scruffy. He might be in his 50s or 60s since he had gray hair.

He was either Irish or Scottish. She saw him two or three months ago. The camera tapes over itself. Jones can show them his lodge if they have a warrant. She gets into an argument with Ravi until Nick asks her about the dog’s breed. He believes it is a pit bull terrier and it is a banned breed. Nick threatens to take Spud unless she shows them the room. Linda is surprised to see a padlock on the door since it isn’t supposed to be there. Nick takes care of it and enters the room only to find out that the lights do not work. Ravi eventually finds the lights that work. Clippings and pictures about the case are hung on the wall. A picture of a house on the wall catches Ravi’s attention. Lucy finds the police outside of Chloe’s home when she gets there. Gideon asks her if she feels the dissonance like something wasn’t meant to be. He claims something changed. Ravi notices that the date next to the picture is today.

Gideon asks Lucy if she remembers this conversation. A body is pulled out of the house. Gideon asks Lucy about the worse thing she has ever experienced. She responds by saying all of his and him. Gideon claims she has suffered far worse than him, but she just doesn’t know it yet. Ravi and Nick find a message that asks where Lucy Chambers is.

 

The Devil’s Hour Review

The Devil’s Hour is available in time for Halloween, but it is questionable whether it is capable of providing viewers with a satisfying scream. The excellent cast is led by Jessica Raine, Peter Capaldi, and Nikesh Patel so that shouldn’t be an issue throughout. The cinematography and camera work are solid so the show has the basics down to a T at the moment. Unfortunately, the first episode does little to instill confidence that the show will be a Halloween hit.

The sluggish pace will make it difficult for viewers to remain interested for 50 minutes while the story is possibly too complicated. Although it is only the first episode, I am having to force myself to care about the characters and everything that is going on. It is hard to know what is going on half of the time because the flashbacks aren’t clearly identified and might not be flashbacks at all.

The Devil’s Hour is trying to be too many things at once with detectives, shrinks, troubled kids, prisoners, domestic abuse, and suicide attempts. These topics might come together conveniently over the next few episodes, but there were just too many things going on in the first.

This is obviously a series viewers will have to pay close attention to in hopes of catching everything, but it hasn’t done enough to warrant that just yet. The first episode could be described as unoriginal, tedious, and even lumbering. It scores a 6 out of 10. Recaps of The Devil’s Hour can be found on Reel Mockery here. Learn how to support our work by following this link.